Roger O Green

Music Throwback Saturday: Soulful Strut

Dusty Springfield recorded a cover version of Am I The Same Girl.

A variation on this happens a LOT to me.

One librarian starts humming this tune to me; he thinks it was performed by a singer, such as Lisa Stansfield. I recognize it instantly as a long-ago instrumental, but cannot place it.

Another librarian sends me a clip of the music, as background to a vulgar Howard Stern rant. Yup, it’s THAT song.

I am notoriously bad at remembering the titles of pop-music instrumentals. Obviously, there are no lyrics to hook onto – but if there is a single word, such as Tequila by the Champs – THAT I can remember.

Finally, I send the Stern clip to Times Union blogger, and trivia buff Chuck Miller, and he identifies it as Soulful Strut by Young-Holt Unlimited. That track got to #3 on both the pop chart and the soul chart in early 1969.

It was also the frame for a song called Am I The Same Girl, originally done by Barbara Acklin, whose original version got to #79 in 1969. In fact, Soulful Strut was the instrumental backing track to the Acklin song. Dusty Springfield recorded a cover version of Am I The Same Girl that same year.

The song gained new life in 1992 when Swing Out Sister covered Am I The Same Girl. It only reached #45 on the pop charts, and it got some airplay in my neck of the woods. But I don’t think I had heard it, probably listening to Nirvana or something.

This story should further explain the brain of the librarian, and the ~~desire~~NEED to know.

Listen to

Am I the Same Girl – Barbara Acklin HERE or HERE

Soulful Strut – Young-Holt Unlimited HERE or HERE

Am I The Same Girl- Dusty Springfield HERE or HERE

Am I The Same Girl- Swing Out Sister HERE or HERE

September rambling #1: unfinished art

Busker lends a helping hand to people with cancer

Instead of Dumbing Down

Meet the People Who Believe the Earth Is Flat

Flooding of Coast, Caused by Global Warming, Has Already Begun; Scientists’ warnings that the rise of the sea would eventually imperil the US coastline are no longer theoretical

How Trolls Are Ruining the Internet

The Falling Man

The FBI Accused Him of Terrorism; He Couldn’t Tie His Shoes

The Aurora shooting survivors’ $700,000 legal bill shows the difficult reality of one Colorado law

Risky alone, deadly together Overdosing on prescription drug combinations plays a part in the growing rates of premature death among white women

White people think racism is getting worse, against white people

White privilege has enormous implications for policy — but whites don’t think it exists

‘He paid a dear price for it’: The 19th-century ordeal of one of America’s first transgender men

JEWEL OF THE NILE and why Ken Levine will be forever haunted by it

Who is Funding the Backlash against John Oliver’s Charter School Critique?

‘Playing Joan Crawford ruined my career’: Faye Dunaway says Mommie Dearest changed the way Hollywood thought of her

Now I Know: The Pool Party That Wasn’t a Gas and A Token Effort

One in Four Americans Didn’t Read a Book Last Year, But don’t mourn the death of the printed word just yet

Introvert Hangovers Can Be Really Rough

Hugh O’Brian, Star of TV’s Wyatt Earp, Dies at 91

Actor Jon Polito, known for roles in Coen brother films ‘The Big Lebowski’ and ‘Miller’s Crossing,’ dead at 65

Trouble with Comics contributor Tim Durkee passed away

Woman in iconic WWII Times Square kiss photograph dies at 92

A little good news

Dozens of higher education institutions in New York state will stop asking applicants whether they have past criminal convictions

Jerry Lewis returns, at 90

Star Trek: The Making of The Next Generation’s Greatest Episode, ‘The Inner Light’ and When ST was banned in Albany and ST and Jaquandor

Gene Wilder on Willy Wonka Remake, Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks, and more (2013)

Actress Bea Arthur leaves LGBT youth a generous gift in her will

Ken Levine’s favorite celebrity sighting

Dan Van Riper: We Walked The Entire Rail Trail From the South End of Albany all the way to Voorheesville

An exhibition celebrates unfinished art

Early comics reading and A Number 1 By Any Other Name, both featuring moi

Busker lends a helping hand to people with cancer (Roger Green, not me)

Alicia Abdul: My favorite part of the trip– the Library of Congress!

Library Gothic

The fifty-year odyssey of a born-again baseball fan

High school was hard, and no one showed it better than My So-Called Life

How Lace Is Made

Finding Dory As Told By Emoji

When He Turned Out the Light, He Was in Bed Before the Room Was Dark

Star Trek suites

Fred Hellerman, Last Living Member of Folk Group the Weavers, Dead at 89 – Folk icon also produced Arlo Guthrie’s ‘Alice’s Restaurant’

Tchaikovsky’s Symphonies No. 5 in E minor and No. 6 in B minor

Cover of Michael Jackson’s Bad by Jordan’s Project (Big Band; Soloist – Artur Katz)

K-Chuck Radio: The Vanda and Young Songbook

Four chords, no waiting

An Oral History of “We Built This City,” the Worst Song of All Time; or at least a real contender.

Beatles appropriation and ‘Eight Days a Week’ — The Beatles’ story in Ron Howard’s documentary

Rolling Stone: 100 Greatest Rolling Stones Songs

All 314 Bruce Springsteen Songs, Ranked From Worst to Best

Beach Boys: Mike Love’s Endless Summer of Love

Playbill Asked Over 70 Actors to Name Their Favorite Show Tune of All Time

The Price is Right losing horn

Tommy Lee Jones turns 70

The Fugitive (1993) – One of my favorite movie trailers ever.

On these Facebook ads I see often, one of the questions is which actor was former Vice-President Al Gore’s roommate in college. Yes, it’s the guy from Texas, Tommy Lee Jones.

In fact, “in 1970 he landed his first film role, coincidentally playing a Harvard student in Love Story (Erich Segal, the author of Love Story, said that he based the lead character of Oliver on the two undergraduate roommates he knew while attending Harvard, Jones, and Gore).”

“At the 2000 Democratic National Convention, he presented the nominating speech for…Gore, as the Democratic Party’s nominee for President of the United States.”

He was a guest star in a bunch of dramatic shows such as Barnaby Jones and Baretta that I used to watch. But it was before I knew who Tommy Lee Jones was. I did see him in these movies, and almost always like HIM, even when the movie is not great.

Lincoln (2012) – Thaddeus Stevens. I was rather fond of his portrayal. Jones received his fourth Oscar nomination, for Best Supporting Actor
Hope Springs (2012) – as a part of a couple aging.
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
A Prairie Home Companion (2006)
Space Cowboys (2000) – a bunch of aging astronauts

Men in Black (1997) – the movie that sealed Tommy Lee Jones as a bankable actor
Batman Forever (1995) – as Two-Face / Harvey Dent
The Fugitive (1993) – One of my favorite movie trailers ever. Richard Kimble (Harrison Ford): But I’m innocent! US Marshall Samuel Gerard (Jones): I don’t CARE!” No wonder he won Best Supporting Actor for his performance
JFK (1991) – as Clay Shaw. If I’m remembering right, he was sleazily great. He earned another Oscar nomination

Lonesome Dove (TV Mini-Series, 1989) – he earned another Emmy nomination for his portrayal of Texas Ranger lawman Woodrow F. Call in the acclaimed mini-series, based on the best-seller by Larry McMurtry
The Executioner’s Song (TV Movie, 1982) as Gary Mark Gilmore. Chilling. He received an Emmy for Best Actor for his performance as the murderer in an adaptation of Norman Mailer’s book
Coal Miner’s Daughter (1980) as Doolittle Lynn; for which he earned his first Golden Globe nomination for his portrayal of country singer Loretta Lynn’s husband

Letchworth State Park: Grand Canyon of the East

Mary Jemison eventually lived in western New York on the Genesee River.

Letchworth State Park, July 17-18, 2016

When we traveled on vacation from northeast Ohio towards the Finger Lakes region of upstate New York, it was the longest time we spent continually in the car. So we were rather spent when we finally got to what has been described as the Grand Canyon of the East. In fact, by the time we drove into Letchworth State Park late that Sunday afternoon, there was no one collecting money. So we drove around, then got out of the car several times, and looked at the amazing scenery for a bit.

But we needed to get to our hotel before it got too late. So we came back the next day. As it turns out, because I’m 62 or over, with an NYS driver’s ID, we were able to get in for free!

The history of the area was fascinating to me. “The park is the present-day site of the grave of Mary Jemison, a Scots-Irish immigrant pioneer who was captured at the age of 12 from central Pennsylvania by a French and Shawnee raiding party during the French and Indian War. She was soon adopted by a family of Seneca people and eventually lived in western New York on the Genesee River. She had become thoroughly assimilated and chose to live with the Seneca for the rest of her long life.”

I can look at waterfalls for a good while, and we saw two of the three major ones in the park. Some of the picnic tables were made from stone. The playgrounds were nice, and my traveling companions liked posing in the giant chairs. Oh, and it had at least one antique: a working payphone.

Truth is, though, we didn’t come close to fully taking advantage of all the amenities, We didn’t get to the William Pryor Letchworth Museum. We didn’t walk on any of the “66 miles (106 km) of hiking trails” use the “two large swimming pools, cabins, campsites for tents, trailer sites with dumping stations, and horse-riding trails. Activities within the park include hiking, biking, fishing, whitewater rafting and kayaking, geocaching, and hunting.”

This means only one thing: we need to come back, and spend more time!

J is for scientist Joseph Henry

Joseph Henry created a program to study weather patterns in North America, a project that eventually led to the creation of the National Weather Service.

Joseph Henry (December 17, 1797 – May 13, 1878) was born in Albany, New York, to William and Ann Henry, two immigrants from Scotland. “In 1819 he was persuaded by some influential friends to pursue a more academic career, he entered Albany Academy, where he was given free tuition. He was so poor, even with free tuition, Joseph Henry had to support himself with teaching and private tutoring positions.”

Henry excelled academically. He “discovered the electromagnetic phenomenon of self-inductance,” which I shan’t attempt to explain, but it’s a big deal.

“The SI [international standard] unit of inductance, the henry, is named in his honor. Henry’s work on the electromagnetic relay was the basis of the practical electrical telegraph.”

After teaching at the precursor of Princeton University, and excelling as a scientist, he became the first Secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, always working “tirelessly to support the field of American science.”

“Henry focused the Smithsonian on research, publications, and international exchanges. The system of international exchanges begins in 1849, with the Smithsonian providing a clearinghouse function for the exchange of literary and scientific works between societies and individuals in this country and abroad. Also by 1849, he created a program to study weather patterns in North America, a project that eventually led to the creation of the National Weather Service.”

The Albany (NY) School District science fair is named after Joseph Henry.

See the glass window? I view it almost every week, as it is a Tiffany creation, found in the Assembly Hall of First Presbyterian Church of Albany. Mr. Henry was baptized in the church, albeit in an earlier building.

Here is a memoir of Joseph Henry by Simon Newcomb, read in 1880, shortly after his death in his quarters in the Smithsonian Castle in Washington, DC.

ABC Wednesday – Round 19